Stanford Band Suspended For Antics At Oregon Game

AP

EUGENE - Stanford's marching band has been banned from the football field as punishment for offending fans in Oregon last weekend.

The suspension was announced yesterday by Alan Cummings, Stanford's acting athletic director. The band's activities will resume this season only if it presents an ``agreeable show format'' to govern its performances.

Cummings said the band's performance was less than agreeable last Saturday at Autzen Stadium. The group ``displayed an insensitivity and disrespect to the Oregon community.''

``It is certainly a low point to think the band was booed off the field,'' Cummings said. ``The Department of Athletics will not be embarrassed again by the band.''

During the band's halftime show, its announcer said the band ``has decided to shift its attention from the Oregon State Lottery to an atrocity worse than the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. Trees and spotted owls are disappearing like crazy and everybody wants to know why.

The show continued: ``Mr. Spotted Owl! Mr. Spotted Owl! Your environment has been destroyed, your home is now a roll of Brawny, and your family has flown the coop. What are you going to do? `Me, I'm going to Disneyland!' ''

Band members then marched into place to spell out ``pot'' on the field while the announcer said: ``Does marijuana cure glaucoma? Some doctors think so. Some people don't care. Some may front certain causes in order to protect their backyard cash crop. This puts a little twist on Ben Franklin's saying: `Just remember kids, an owl a day keeps the DEA away.' ''

But the show was only part of the problem, said Sandy Walton, senior associate athletic director of the University of Oregon.

``Our athletic director spoke with their athletic director because of some damage that was done deliberately by the band, including some spilled paint and broken chairs,'' Walton said. ``We contacted them to ask if payment would be forthcoming when we sent them the bill, and they assured us it would.''

Trouble is nothing new to the ``Incomparable Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band.''

Four years ago, the band was suspended for one game after ``an accumulation of problems'' that included band members mooning the audience during a performance and urinating on the field after a game.

On another occasion, the band marched onto the field before the clock ran out, allowing University of California players to make a game-winning touchdown.

Steve Paul, director of bands at the University of Oregon, doesn't appreciate the Stanford band's behavior or the attention it gets.

``Frankly, it angers me, and I find it insulting that this is news,'' Paul said.